Caroline Finds a Solution

CEO Caroline finds a solution to Nicky's problem

Caroline Hart surveyed the papers on her desk with a slight smile on her lips. The company had come a long way in the past year, during which time her recovery plan had borne fruit. It had been tough to get the Board of Kendall-Balfour plc on side but her determination to push it through had paid off and, predictably, the non-execs were now congratulating themselves on how right they had been to back her. It was typical; when you wanted to make tough decisions they sat on the fence and talked about the risks and made sure that the Minutes were full of caveats and when those decisions turned out well they tried to take the credit. Not enough women on the Board, thought Caroline to herself, but for now she could bask in the glow of having increased both turnover and profits, so it could not be seen as just a cost-cutting exercise. She might have to reward herself with another date – or should that be appointment – with James from Kensington Introductions. She sat back and thought about one or two possible scenarios but they all ended up with her over James's knee being soundly spanked and then fucked hard from behind.

Her reverie was interrupted by the ringing of her mobile, which announced the caller as Nicky, one of her oldest friends.

"Nicks, hi!" answered Caroline breezily.

"Caroline, can we meet up, I need to talk to you," replied Nicky in a rather desultory voice.

"Yes, of course, what's wrong?"

"Man trouble, that's what's wrong. Or rather 'no man' trouble."

"Oh dear, yes we had better have a chat," said Caroline solicitously, "why don't you meet me in the wine bar just round the corner from my office, the Red & White, at say 6.30?"

"Thanks Caro, that would be great, better get a large bottle lined up and I'll tell you all about it," replied Nicky. "See you at 6.30."

Caroline put the phone back in her bag and sighed. She and Nicky had been friends since shortly after University but had followed very different career paths. Caroline had joined Kendall-Balfour as a graduate trainee and had gradually made her way up to the Chief Executive's office which, now aged 43, she had inhabited for just over two years. Nicky, a couple of years younger, had entered the fashion world and, although she had the looks to be in front of the camera rather than behind it, she had never had the determination or the desire to starve herself to model proportions and secondly, she had rather more brains than would be fulfilled by staring into a lens and pouting. She was now picture editor for one of the leading women's fashion magazines. Caroline, who knew she was quite attractive to men, had always been a little bit envious of Nicky's classic blond hair and blue eyes with the slightly protruding top lip that seemed to have men eating out of her hand. While Caroline exercised rigorously to maintain her tone and control her weight – generally with success other than in the area of her bottom, which she was convinced was too big – Nicky had a bit of a tendency to let her appetite for fine food and wine get the better of her, which ironically never seemed to deter men who referred to her as curvy, statuesque, gorgeous et cetera. Nicky did rather play on her charms and her roster of boyfriends was a lengthy one. Well, thought Caroline, let's hear what the latest disaster has been!

Promptly at 6.30 Caroline was seated at a corner table in the Red & White. Nicky inevitably was late because she always was. Caroline was well known in the wine bar and Sam, one of her favourite staff, was soon at her table.

"What's it to be tonight?" he enquired with a smile.

"Something to cheer up my friend Nicky," replied Caroline. "I think I'm in for a sob story and I can't think of anything worse than two women, no longer in the first flush of youth, crying into a bottle of sauvignon blanc. What do you suggest?"

"Why don't you try the Gruner Veltliner? It's got a nice bouquet of peach and apricot but with some proper backbone so it doesn't taste flabby. Austrian, so it's not mass-market, where a lot of people still think of the anti-freeze scandal. The one we have from Gobelsburger is very good."

"OK Sam, I'll take your recommendation," replied Caroline, smiling as she watched his retreating backside and thinking which bit of him she wouldn't mind gobbling. With or without a burger on the side.

At 6.42 on the dot Nicky half walked and half trotted to the table, holding a number of shopping bags which she deposited untidily on the floor under the table.

"Sorry I'm late Caro, couldn't get a taxi for love nor money. Especially not for love."

"That's OK Nicks, I've never known you be on time for anything so it's no surprise. Were you really offering sexual favours to cabbies for a ride?"

"It's a joke you stupid cow, you spend too long staring at accounts and the like. You should get out more."

"Oh, you mean like you, single-handedly keeping half the department stores in the West End in profit?" said Caroline, raising an eyebrow at the shopping bags. "Bit of retail comfort therapy was it? Don't you know you are likely to spend four times as much money if you shop when you are upset?"

"I know," said Nicky, exhaling with a sigh. "I'm just a bit angry with myself over Charlie."

Caroline poured her a generous glass of the Gruner Veltliner. "You'd better tell me all about it."

Nicky took a large swig and set the glass down, fixing her friend with the captivating blue eyes and fiddling with a strand of blond hair that had fallen down over her cheek.

"It's all a bit of a mess really and the worst of it is that I have only got myself to blame. You know I told you about Charlie? Well, we've been going out for about three months, or at least we had been going out until a couple of days ago. He's fantastic, really charming, good-looking, funny, not short of a few quid and VGIB."

Caroline laughed. They had shared various acronyms from their earliest days in each other's company. VGIB stood for Very Good in Bed, while NLS was Nasty Little Shit and so on.

"So how did you manage to let go of this paragon?" enquired Caroline with a frown.

"I messed him about once too often," sighed Nicky glumly.

Caroline nodded with a knowing expression. Much as she loved Nicky, she had one infuriating trait which was to break arrangements at the last minute if something better came up, or sometimes just because she had forgotten to take note of the arrangement in the first place. For a disciplined woman like Caroline, used to keeping to a strict diary in her working life and being careful with her time, it was incomprehensible. If it annoyed Caroline, she was not surprised if the men in Nicky's life got hacked off. Nicky was invariably charming and apologetic when letting people down, but at the same time she seemed to believe they would always understand and forgive her little peccadilloes.

"So what happened then, little Miss Teutonic?" she asked with a knowing smile.

"Well, Charlie had asked me to this reception at his office. I'd never been asked to anything at his office before, nor met any of his work colleagues. It turned out that this event is only held every two years, it's the only one that other halves are invited to on the calendar and it's quite a lavish bash. I didn't really appreciate that, I thought it was just a rather boring drinks do with a few people standing round nursing glasses of warm white wine and scoffing peanuts while making small talk. So when my friend Jo from work told me she had a spare ticket for what sounded like a great concert, and there was a bunch of other people going, and we were all going out for dinner afterwards, it just sounded like a lot more fun. So I rang Charlie the day before and said I couldn't make his work do. He sounded a bit pissed off and it turns out that he'd been telling people in his office that he was going to introduce them to the new woman in his life and then all of a sudden he wasn't. Made him look a bit of a prat. And now he's not talking to me. Won't return my calls, ignores my texts, you get the picture. And I really didn't want to lose him, I miss him now, including in the VGIB department."

"Oh dear, will you never learn, you silly girl? Of course you were going to piss him off. Did you expect him just to say 'that's OK Nicky, see you next week, how about some dinner?' Of course he had to give you the cold shoulder or else he was going to look like a right pushover. Plus he was genuinely angry that he was going to have to explain to his work colleagues that his girlfriend had cried off at the last minute."

Nicky stared unhappily into the bottom of her glass which was now empty.

"I think you had better top me up. Yes, I know – now – that I have behaved like a right little madam but what am I going to do? I really don't want to lose him." She looked imploringly at Caroline. "You are always the one with a solution to things, what can I do?"

"I do feel sorry for you," said Caroline putting a consoling hand on her shoulder, "I can dish out sympathy as well as advice, but I think right now we need a plan to get Charlie back. And we need to make sure you approach life in a more disciplined way in the future so you don't allow yourself to get into this sort of scrape again. Will you put yourself in my hands, and go along with what I tell you to do, even if it seems a little, well, unorthodox?"

"Of course Caro, you know I trust you," sniffed Nicky as a solitary tear trickled down one cheek. She wiped it away and drained the rest of her glass in one. "Just get Charlie back for me, please," she implored.

"Right, wait there, I need to go outside to make a call. Try not to finish off the rest of the bottle while I'm gone."

With that Caroline picked up her bag, walked out of the back door into the Red & White's small garden which was mercifully free of people and took out her mobile. She brought up her contacts and selected one carefully. She put it to her ear and the call was answered on the third ring.

"Kensington Introductions," said a cultured female voice.

"It's Caroline, I was wanting to make an appointment with James. When will he next be free for the evening?"

"Let me just check," said the cool voice. "Ah, it looks as though he is free next Wednesday, does that suit?"

Caroline mentally ran through her diary. There was nothing so important that evening that it couldn't be changed.

"Yes, that would be fine. Now this appointment will be a little different, I'd like to introduce James to a friend of mine called Nicky. He should bring his usual bag of tricks of course."

"Oh I am sure that will be fine, you are a long-standing client of his so I can't see it being a problem. Shall we charge it to the card we hold on file?"

"Yes please," said Caroline in a business-like way. This sort of transaction had never embarrassed her, so long as one was dealing with a high quality agency. "I'll expect James at my flat at 6.30 next Wednesday. Thanks very much, goodbye."

Caroline dropped her phone back in her bag and re-entered the bar. She was glad to see that the bottle of Gruner Veltliner still had a little in the bottom. Nicky looked up expectantly.

"Well, what have you arranged?" she asked.

"You are going to be at my flat next Wednesday at 6.15 on the dot and I mean on the dot. I am going to introduce you to a man called James and between us we are going to do what we need to do to modify your behaviour. James is someone I have known in a professional capacity for some time; he appreciates attractive women but he does like them well turned out so wear something smart. But no trousers and no tights."

Nicky was looking perplexed. "So what are we going to do? What does James do? Why shouldn't I wear tights? Shall I wear that new red dress you saw the other day? What about heels...?"

She would have gone on but Caroline held her hand up. "That's enough questions. I said you had to trust me. At the moment you are feeling wretched with yourself and you need a cathartic experience to assuage your feelings of guilt. Once we have your head in the right place we can see what to do about Charlie. Oh and wear some nice underwear."

Nicky was about to burst forth with a further volley of questions but Caroline pre-empted her.

"No more questions Nicks, just be at my flat at 6.15 next Wednesday like I said and do as I say when you get there. Now I have some calls to make to the States so I shall have to go."

With that Caroline summoned Sam over, paid the bill with a smile, drained her glass and accompanied a still quizzical Nicky out through the front door.

"See you on Wednesday, don't be late," were her parting words as she walked back to her office. She did indeed have some calls to make to the States but she would also be putting in a call to James on his personal mobile. Caroline couldn't resist a self-satisfied smile; if this worked out as she planned, then Nicky would be paying the price for her thoughtless behaviour and learning some self-control, Caroline would be getting an interesting show and then both of them would be experiencing James's special skills in the female satisfaction department. And with a bit of luck she could get Charlie back on side for Nicky. She was looking forward to next Wednesday evening.

The following Wednesday came around sooner than had expected; there was nothing like being busy at work to make the time fly. Unusually for her, Caroline left the office at 5 pm with a wave and no explanation to her PA, Fiona, who was always keen to know about Caroline's love life and pounced on any early departure as clearly signalling a date. Caroline drove back to her flat in the Porsche Cayman, only once having to floor it at the lights to show an oaf in a BMW who was making stupid gestures at her, what a fast car really was.

She let herself in with just under an hour to Nicky's appointed arrival time. Despite her strictures Caroline guessed she would be late as usual. Well, she might just be paying the price for that as well. Caroline undressed in front of the floor length mirror in her bathroom, surveying herself with a critical eye. Was she putting on a pound or two? Was her bottom sagging at all? Her medium-sized breasts were still quite firm. Perhaps she wasn't too bad for her age, all the sport and gym work definitely paid off in terms of muscle tone.

She stepped into the shower and let the warm water wash over her. This evening could be really quite interesting, she thought. She and Nicky had shared a lot of secrets but Caroline had never let on about her particular preferences and she wondered how Nicky would react when she found out that she would be on the receiving end. For that matter Caroline had never found out in detail about Nicky's predilections although she was quite well informed about her friend's taste in men and she felt confident that James would pass muster. That would certainly help to overcome any misgivings that Nicky might have when she found out what was in store for her.

Caroline finished her shower, dried herself off and then surveyed the contents of her wardrobe. She picked out an elegant blue pleated skirt that came three inches above the knee and, with the right imagination, just could represent school uniform, a cream silk blouse that would reveal a hint of cleavage and some tall navy heels. Laying the clothes on her bed, she inspected her underwear drawer. For this evening's activities it could only be stockings and suspenders and she picked out a thin black lace suspender belt, and a matching set of black lacy knickers and bra. She opened a new packet of 20 denier black stockings and slipped into the underwear and shoes. She regarded herself critically in the mirror checking for tautness in the suspender straps and evenness in stocking tops and then turned round to check the rear view. Her curvaceous bottom was restrained by the slightly over-filled bikini-type knickers, which she eased down thinking of what James would be doing later. Her bottom looked full and cheeky in the mirror and at present creamy white against the black underwear. She imagined it with a pink glow and shivered in anticipation.

She dressed, applied sparing eye make-up, brushed her hair and was ready by just after 6 o'clock. She went to the fridge and took out a bottle of Prosecco and a bottle of Aperol and placed them on a tray with three large glasses. She filled an ice-bucket with ice from the freezer and laid that on the tray next to the bottles. All was ready apart to receive her guests, one of whom was fully in the picture and one of whom wasn't. It promised to be fun.

At 6.19 pm the bell rang and Caroline went down to open the door to Nicky; almost on time she thought, that was quite something for Nicky. Caroline put on a mock frown.

"Four minutes late, Nicola, that will not go unpunished."

"Don't be silly Caro, four minutes late is on time for me," replied Nicky with a laugh.

Caroline assessed her appearance critically. Yes she thought, James would approve. Nicky was wearing a knitted purple wool dress that clung in all the right places. It was high necked, contrasting with the flowing blond hair, but offered a generous expanse of thigh and was stretchy enough to be lifted up easily. It made her backside look particularly inviting. No tights, or stockings for that matter, Nicky had clearly been in the sun and was showing off elegant tanned legs, finished off with some strappy sandals. Caroline poured two glasses of Prosecco over ice and added a measure of Aperol so that the glass turned a pale orange neon. She handed one to Nicky.

"So, tell me all about this man James," invited Nicky with a lascivious look.

"Well, James is a...professional contact of mine," replied Caroline guardedly.

"You mean he's a lawyer or something?"

"Not exactly, more of a professional companion," answered Caroline levelly.

Nicky regarded her friend quizzically. "Do you mean he's a male escort?"

"Yes, I suppose you could call him that..." replied Caroline.

"My God, I had no idea, you are a sly one, do you mean you pay him to go on dates with you and then, well, shag you?"

"He's very well educated and very good company. I have a very busy job and I simply don't have time to waste. I'd rather know what I'm getting, not have to muck about with men I have only just met and I'm perfectly prepared to pay for the service if I get what I want."

"So sex is part of it then?"

"Yes it is, but there are other benefits as you will find out," retorted Caroline feeling she was regaining the advantage. "You are feeling angry with yourself for behaving badly so that Charlie ditched you and we need to get your head back on the straight and narrow so you can think logically about how to play it from here. You really need to experience a form of cathartic redemption to overcome your feelings of guilt."

Nicky took a long pull from her glass and regarded her friend with penetrating blue eyes.

"And this is where James comes in? So what is he going to do? You make him sound like some sort of psychiatrist. And anyway, why did you say no trousers and no tights?"

Caroline was saved from having to answer these increasingly direct questions by the ringing of the doorbell. She got up, leaving Nicky sitting on the sofa with a puzzled look on her face and went downstairs to the front door. At least this was someone who was always on time. She opened the door to James and was gratified to see that he looked as good as ever. Brown curling hair just turning to a hint of grey at the temples, a deep tan emphasising his blue eyes and the slight growth of stubble over his strong jawline. It looked as though he had been putting in the time at the gym as well she thought. He wore a plain blue jacket over a white shirt with chinos and loafers and carried a small canvas bag, one that Caroline had seen many times before.